Bikes Made Lisa Congdon a Better Artist

Lisa Congdon’s colorful, abstract illustrations and distinct hand-lettering can be found all over the country—on city murals, at the Museum of Modern Art, in projects for clients as diverse as the United Nations and Lululemon, and now potentially across the back of the cyclist in front of you at your next group ride. Earlier this year, the artist and author of seven books provided art for Velocio’s Unity Jersey, a boldly designed piece of kit that raises funds for RAICES, an organization that provides legal services to immigrants and refugees at the US border. Here’s how her love of cycling influences her art—and how she came to both relatively later in life.

Bicycling: Have you always been a cyclist?Lisa Congdon: I got into cycling in 1998 at 30. A friend of mine was involved in organizing what was then called the California AIDS ride, now AIDS/LifeCycle, and told me I should ride it. I had always been athletic—I swam competitively since I was a kid. So I got my first road bike and clip-in pedals and started training. I rode the 545 miles from San Francisco to LA. And then I kept riding on my own. I still ride with my wife, who’s a big cyclist, and with a women’s cycling team in Portland called Sorellaforte, though I’m too busy to train for racing.

You didn’t start creating art until around that time. How did that happen?I always thought of myself as the least artistic, least creative person. Then when I was in my early 30s I went through a breakup and was single for the first time as an adult. I felt like “Who am I? What do I even enjoy doing?” I started taking art classes just to see what would happen, never imagining that it would become a career—it was just part of my self-discovery process.

When did you know art could be your day job? First I started sharing my work online in a blog, very innocent, like “see what I made today.” And then, gradually, I began selling things on the site. That was 18 years ago when I took the initial art class, and incrementally over the past 10 years my career took off and I left my old job.

How did your characteristic style develop?I actually just wrote a book that comes out next September called Find Your Artistic Voice: The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic. Most of it is showing up and sitting down and doing something as often as you can. I don’t think anyone just wakes up and starts drawing in an advanced way. There’s a This American Life episode where Ira Glass talks about as a beginner you have an idea in your head of what you want your work to look like, or if you’re a writer, what you want your writing to sound like. At the beginning, your taste level always exceeds your skill level, which is why so many people get discouraged and give up quickly. You have to work through that so your skill level can meet your taste level, and that’s where your voice emerges. You get to that place where you have fluency in your medium and you’ve also developed your own perspective. That can take a long time, so it’s important to stick with it.

Illustration commission for the Chicago Design Museum.

Courtesy Lisa Congdon

Do you feel like cycling impacts your work? I get my best ideas when I’m out riding. You have to focus and constantly be aware of your surroundings, but part of your brain can wander. I’m often halfway in my head when I’m riding, which is a big part of the creative process—allowing yourself to daydream. I also feel like cycling gives me energy. So much of art involves standing still. Riding energizes me for that sedentary work.

You’ve also drawn a lot of bicycles.I haven’t drawn one in a really long time, but there was a period about 10 years ago when I loved pencil-drawing bicycles with graphite. People sent me commissions in the form of pictures of their bikes and I drew them.

How did you connect with Velocio for the Unity jersey?Velocio’s CEO Brad Sheehan contacted me to say he loved my work, without even knowing that I’m a cyclist. He wanted to do a fundraiser jersey. I don’t always have time to take on pro-bono work, but he contacted me at a time I had more bandwidth in my schedule and gave me a lot of creative freedom. Plus, that’s pretty much the dream job for a cyclist and artist to design a cycling jersey.

Courtesy Lisa Congdon

One hundred percent of the proceeds of the jersey went toward RAICES and reuniting families separated at the border. Was that already a cause you supported?Yes, that was another reason I was on board—it was for a cause that’s really important to me.

How did you come up with the design?I use a lot of color and symbolism in my work, and Velocio wanted me to create something that included symbols of light and strength and hope and unity. There’s a tiger, a bird, and lots of lightning bolts and other abstract landscapes. I just wanted to create something where all the elements flowed together and created a sense of joy and hope for people wearing them and looking at them.

Have you ridden in it?Yes! It was cool to be able to use social media to talk about what we were doing with the jersey and how we were going to use the money from its sale. I was excited to see well-known racers and cyclists taking pictures of themselves in the jersey and tagging me.

Lisa Congdon

Social consciousness in general is a big element in your work. Do you feel like bikes play a part in that?My cycling life has always been really separate from my art life and my activism life, so it was really awesome for me to do this project because it felt like a marriage of those worlds. I don’t know how much actual social or political activism takes place in the cycling community—I haven’t been super-aware of it. For me it was just exciting to work with a company that makes cycling gear for a cause because I love supporting businesses that have a social consciousness. This was the perfect marriage of all these things that are important to me.

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